Power of Attorney - Healthcare
Montgomery County & Chester County Living Wills Attorneys
Healthcare Power of Attorney assigns an Agent the responsibility to make medical decisions in situations when you are alive but are not able to make decisions or communicate on your own behalf. This might be due to incapacity, including being in a state of unconsciousness. A physician will determine whether you are capable of making your own decisions. If you are incapable of taking action or communicating your intentions, your Agent will “step into your shoes” to make important healthcare decisions on your behalf. Your Healthcare Power of Attorney remains in force unless, or until, you or the Court revokes it.
Included in the Healthcare Power of Attorney is a Living Will. The purpose of a Living Will is to give you a voice in your medical treatment in the event you are suffering from an end-stage medical condition, are facing death, and/or are permanently unconscious and unable to communicate your wishes to your healthcare providers. The Living Will provisions will provide guidance and direction to your Agent and to your medical providers as to what treatments you will and will not want in the event you are facing death and are in the end-stages of an illness, as certified in writing by the physicians.
In your Living Will, you are telling your Agent and your healthcare providers whether you wish to receive life-prolonging treatment in the event your body can no longer function on its own. A Living Will applies in situations when the decision to use such life-prolonging treatments may prolong your life for a limited period of time but will not prevent death.
Importantly, the Living Will provides for you to have a voice in your own treatment. It also relieves your grieving loved ones of the responsibility to make those decisions alone.
You will need to contemplate and consider the treatments you will and will not want in the event you are facing death and are in an end-stage condition. We understand these can be difficult circumstances to consider. If you have questions or want to discuss these options with us, please call us to discuss the options.
You Living Will addresses the following issues and potentially additional items depending on your personal circumstances.
- Severe Brain Damage or Brain Disease
- End Stage Medical Conditions and/or Permanent Unconsciousness.
- Aggressive Medical Care
- Organ Donation
Contact Our Montgomery County & Chester County Living Wills Lawyers
In terms of decision-making and planning for your future, a Living Will that clearly expresses your wishes for medical treatment if the situation arises is an important and necessary document to have in your possession. Our Main Line Living Will Lawyers are experienced in drafting these important documents and can draft a living will on your behalf to ensure that your health care is handled according to your own wishes. Our attorneys can also assist you with drafting a Pennsylvania Will, or a Power of Attorney.
Our Main Line Living Wills lawyers have represented hundreds of Montgomery County and Chester County family law clients. We believe we are different from many other Main Line, Montgomery County family law attorneys and Chester County family law attorneys.
Our Main Line family law and divorce lawyers can be contacted via email, or please call the Law Offices of Jennifer J. Riley at 215-283-5080.